Ykkönen 2018

Ykkönen is the second highest Finnish football league. The season 2018 is the 46th season of Ykkönen. There are ten teams contesting:

AC Kajaani

AC Oulu

EIF

FC Haka

FC KTP

FF Jaro

HIFK

JJK Jyväskylä

KPV Kokkola

Klubi 04

The team who wins the season will rise directly to Veikkausliiga for the next season 2019.

Season 2018 begins on 28th April and ends on 28th October.

From the last season 2017, there are five teams along. Other teams have had a pause from Ykkönen more or less. Klubi 04 is a new team that was promoted from Kakkonen and returns to Ykkönen after eight years. Last time the team has been in Ykkönen year 2010. Klubi 04 is the youngest team of the season and consists of young promising players.

AC Kajaani was also promoted from Kakkonen. Last time the team was in Ykkönen year 2013. Now the team believes to be more ready for the challenges of the league and has better readiness to succeed.

JJK was relegated from Veikkausliiga 2017 after contesting one year in the league and returns now back to Ykkönen, where the team has been playing eight seasons previously.

Originally one of the teams was supposed to be OPS but was refused a license for the year 2018. OPS got replaced by FC KTP that was relegated from Ykkönen 2016. Since FC KTP got the news about promotion to Ykkönen at the begin of the year, the team has had some challenges because it had been prepared to play in a lower division. However, the team is ready and motivated to overcome the challenges and believes its’ chances for success in Ykkönen.

The season 2018 has been predicted to be more even than the last season when two front-runners were overpowering. Time will tell who wins this season!

Front-runners for the season 2018 have been FF Jaro, KPV and HIFK. FF Jaro has been contesting many seasons in Veikkausliiga and the past few years in Ykkönen. HIFK has been playing in Veikkausliiga for the last three years (2015-2017). Last year team was relegated to Ykkönen. KPV has been playing in Ykkönen since 2015.